Delco florists to brave snow to make Valentine's Day deliveries

At least two Delaware County florists are not letting any mere whiteout damper their plans to make hundreds of Valentine’s Day deliveries.

“We already have the drivers lined up,” Tim Farrell of Drexel Hill’s Farrell’s Florist said Thursday morning. “We’re like the mailman. No matter what, we’re going to get them there.”

Although some deliveries were cancelled Wednesday because of the storm, Farrell rounded up eight teams of delivery crews, consisting of one driver and one runner to fan out across the region delivering floral arrangements.

Farrell seemed nonplussed about getting the flowers to their destinations but concern seemed to arise about whether the recipient would be there to receive his creations.

“It just becomes a logistical nightmare for us,” he said, anticipating that several workplaces will be closed and that customers would call to notify them of that, requiring new delivery routes to be accommodated throughout the day.

Down in Marcus Hook, Cathy Walker of Marcus Hook Florist on Market Street was making her arrangements Thursday as the snow continued to fall.

“We’re planning to be open (today),” she said.

Walker explained that her staff tried to beat the storm by getting the deliveries out sooner. “We called a lot of our customers and sent them out a little bit earlier,” she said.

And, even though Mother’s Day is her busiest day, Walker said she’s still ready for the day of love.

“We just go with the flow and do the best we can,” she said.

And with 30 other Valentine’s Days on his experience list, Farrell admitted that snow can be an inconvenience but nothing like the ice storms of six to seven years ago.

“For the most part,” he said, “we are trying to stay positive. We’re trying to do our best.”

With a couple of hundred floral arrangements to journey to their destination, the Drexel Hill business owner had one mission in mind.

“We want to do everything we can to keep our customer happy and that will keep them coming back supporting their local florist,” he said.